The Immune
by godofwarfan997
Summary: It was completely dark out with only the moonlight to guide them. What Marcus didn't see was the mass crowd of walkers that herded the long street until it curved into a row of houses. The zombies were masked in the dark and almost impossible to see. "Get the fuck back," yelled Quinn seeing the walkers before Marcus. They both stopped dead and turned to run the other way.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Who the fuck is that stupid!" yelled Marcus towards his friend ready to kill.

"Marcus, you need to calm down," said Quinn in a calm tone trying to calm his friend Marcus down.

Marcus looked to the windows and saw them coming in. The pale white hands reaching in through the broken glass and wood cutting and tearing the flesh. The room that Marcus was in what people used called a "Church". Everything was tinted green from the cracked and broken glass that lined the tall brown walls. Glass lined the floor making a crunch if not careful. Dust was everywhere threatening to grab you by the throat and choke you until you die. On inspection, one would see that the pews that once sat families now sat empty and dusty, devoid of civilization. The church had been around for years without falling, unlike most big structures after the apocalypse. It would've been the perfect place to hide if it wasn't for Quinn.

"Listen, Marcus we needed the food," said Quinn still trying to calm his friend down. Quinn didn't like Marcus when he was angry. The last time he'd seen Marcus _this _angry was when the 3rd member of their group, Sarah, had been bitten. It also didn't help that Marcus had a full-grown, unshaven beard that scared the shit out of Quinn. He'd never grown a facial hair in his life and Marcus looked like a grizzly bear.

"Okay, Quinn," Marcus said surprised at how he was able to keep his cool. "Yes, we needed food but I didn't want the whole god damn county knocking on our back fucking door!"

"It was a mistake and I'm sorry Marcus,"

"Sorry isn't going to cut it this time asshole. Now we need to leave and if you're going to follow me then I suggest you run," Marcus said as he ran to the basement to gather what little items he had. It was downstairs where Quinn and himself had camped for a couple weeks. Marcus nearly ran pat the doorway in haste finally realizing how screwed they were if they didn't move. Marcus walked through the doorway with a frown on his face and took one last look at the best setup they've had in a long time. It's hard to find a place to settle down but Marcus had hope that they could stay here at least a month. However, that hope is gone thanks to Quinn. Marcus cursed and stuffed everything in his backpack as quick as he could. All of his ammo, food scrapes, water, necklace- Marcus froze. Quickly he recovered from the wave of grief and guilt and slung the necklace around his neck.

"Hey are you ready?" said Quinn from behind him.

Marcus frowned quick and turned for the door without saying a word. Marcus and Quinn both ran towards the basement exit door in a darkly lit hallway that led to a neighborhood with who knows how many of the walking dead. Marcus stopped in front of the door and loaded his pistol. Seven bullets. Fuck. If they were overrun, they would be dead men. Unless Quinn could actually use his goddamn gun, then they might have a chance.

"Quinn listen, I don't know how many are out there but I need you to kill on sight,"

"Marcus you know I only shoot if I _absolutely_ haveto,"

"Yeah well now you need to grow some balls because it's life or death out there okay?"

Yeah," said Quinn as he swallowed hard.

Marcus questioned why he was still with this kid. Without thinking anymore Marcus charged out the door and looked around with his gun pointed, waiting for any threat. Quinn followed slowly behind looking like a deer in headlights. The sun was setting and it would be night soon.

_Great timing asshole, _thought Quinn. Marcus probably thought the exact thought.

"Come on this way," said Marcus quietly as to not raise attention. Marcus knew there was a boatload in the front of the church but if they were quiet, they would make it. Marcus ran forward towards a brown fence with bloody fingernail marks on it. Marcus jumped over and felt the pain in his back. He landed and Quinn did as well.

"Marcus this is looking really shady," whispered Quinn obviously scared.

The back glass door of a house was wide open inviting to anybody alive or dead.

"We have to try," announced Marcus already making up his mind. Quinn reluctantly followed. As soon as Marcus crossed the threshold, his senses were hit with an aroma of smells that made him twitch. Death was the strongest but there was another faint scent of human feces.

"Oh shit," said Quinn. "Literally,"

"Alright the plan is that we loot this place and see if we can find a secure enough room to last the night,"

Quinn nodded and they split up, accustomed to this situation. They've been through this so many times it was a routine. Marcus checked the kitchen and to his surprised, he was able to find some canned foods and other materials. Bandages were the most important. Somehow, no one had taken the bandages even though it was clear people had been through here. Marcus didn't have time to think and shoved them into his backpack. He walked through the house and found a child's play mat in the living room. Behind the child area was the couch, which was torn and bloody. Marks laced the once purple couch and blood was streaked across it as if someone was carelessly painting the room with blood. The children's toy were worse and covered in blood, which caused Marcus to look away.

Quinn searched the downstairs with his pistol and a flashlight. The only light source was from the windows high on the ceiling. With the sun setting the expansive basement seemed as dark as a cave. Quinn told himself that if he saw a walker he would shoot it but he knew that he couldn't. Just like last time. Quinn had hated himself ever since that day and he's pretty sure Marcus did the same. If only he had the old Marcus back before the end of the world. The funny, charismatic, Marcus that was. The old Marcus that liked him like family, which Quinn never had. Quinn used to envy Marcus but now… Quinn stepped on something soft and heard a _crack_. The zombie was in his face before he knew it and Quinn's first impulse was to run but he saw Marcus in his mind's eye telling Quinn how he was a wimp he was. A grown man not being able to kill a walker. No. Not this time. A switch flipped inside of Marcus and he took his pistol, rammed it under the walkers head, and looked into the walker's eyes as he pulled the trigger. The blood splattered on his face and on the wall in front of him. The walker hit the cold floor. Quinn's gun dropped to the side and he dropped it to the floor causing the pool of blood forming around the zombie to splash. Quinn stood and stared towards the walker he'd just taken the life of.

"Everything alright down here?" Asked Marcus expecting the worst. Marcus saw Quinn standing and staring at the pool of blood at his feet.

"Alright come on dude. We've got work to do,"

Marcus waited for a response but when he didn't get one, he went back upstairs. Quinn could be so fucking worthless it boggled his mind. Marcus walked upstairs to find blood trails on the carpets leading to a room. Marcus followed this trail and found himself facing a closet in the room of what must've been the parents. He reached his hand out to open it and heard an intake of breath that was not his own. Marcus jumped back drawing his gun and pointing towards the thing in the closet.

"Lets not make this too difficult," said Marcus with the least hit of weakness or emotion in his voice.

"Okay okay. I'm coming out just don't fire. I have a child," said, to Marcus's surprise, was a woman.

The wooden closet doors moved until the women was revealed and the sight was not pretty. He also learned where the feces had come from. Towards the back left corner that was a pile of diapers 3 feet in the air. It smelled much worse up here not to mention the smell of the woman in front of him.

"I'm sorry,"

"Sorry for what?" Asked Marcus still holding his gun towards them.

She put her baby wrapped in dirty cloth on the floor in front of her feet and looked at Marcus. The apology wasn't for Marcus.

"Can you take him?"

"Who." Asked Marcus not liking where this was going.

"I'm bit," the woman said on the verge of tears. From what Marcus can see it looks like she's done enough of that.

"Here I'll show you," she slid her sleeve up until it was up to her shoulder. A giant gash went from her forearm down to the top of her wrist.

"It came at me an-and I tried to move and escape by ripping away," she held back more tears and looked away. Marcus swallowed hard, sweating.

"You want me to kill you? Is that what you want?" Marcus made sure he yelled that last line.

"I don't care," and this is what tipped the balance and she was on her knees next to the sleeping baby.

"All I want is for him to be safe. Shoot me or leave me to turn but just take my baby boy," she was crying her eyes out.

"Uh, listen lady-,"

"She looked up suddenly.

"Please you have to take him!" she said crying her heart out.

Marcus found his hand holding the gun shaking. For once, he didn't know what to do. Marcus looked at the child then back at the mother. If the child was left here, it was going to die. Only Marcus could change the outcome of this life. Marcus heard the stomping before he heard the screams. Marcus redrew his gun and walked towards the dark hallway, ready to kill. He turned towards the steps and waited for the zombies to come. He heard someone running, finger on the trigger. Quinn was running but in a snappy way. His body looked contorted in so many ways it looked inhuman. Marcus stood and fired his gun aiming for the zombie's head. He hit it dead on and the zombie fell and went limp. Then he heard the rest downstairs. Marcus was running before he could register what was happening. He found himself holding a baby and carefully walking down the stairs as to not wake the baby or the living dead. Marcus was back in the living room where all the blood and saw Quinn slowly emerging from the dark basement. Quinn gave Marcus the "what the fuck look" but Marcus put his fingers to his lips and motioned for silence. Marcus signaled Quinn and they both slowly walked to the front door hearing the walkers in the kitchen. Marcus knew he would have to open the door but he didn't know how loud that would be. Quinn looked at Marcus as he began to slowly turn the doorknob. The lock unlocked and a click echoed through the house. They both heard the zombie stop shuffling through the kitchen to think about the noise. Marcus was caught between indecision. He could open this door make a shit ton of noise or he could creep it open. He decided on the first, ripped the rusted door open, and off its hinges. He and Quinn both ran something they're used to, towards the houses on the other side of the street. It was completely dark out with only the moonlight to guide them. What Marcus didn't see was the mass crowd of walkers that herded the long street until it curved into a row of houses. The zombies were masked in the dark and almost impossible to see.

"Get the fuck back," yelled Quinn seeing the walkers before Marcus. They both stopped dead and turned to run the other way. That's when the baby started crying. Marcus was running full speed trying to catch up to Quinn. The baby's cries were inaudible over the moans of the hundreds of dead behind, chasing them. Marcus finally heard it and cursed to himself. The mother didn't give him any food to feed this child. Marcus only had one option. He took the part of the baby's cloth that was in abundance and smothered the babies crying. Tears burned in his eyes, fogging the way towards Quinn. The baby tried to fight but in the end, it stopped crying and Marcus, once again, hated himself. He hated the world he was in and what it had become over the years. This isn't what was promised to him when he was a kid. Quinn suddenly turned down a break between two houses. Marcus followed and heard the zombies pile through behind him. Marcus ran and ran with Quinn for what seemed like hours. Finally, when Marcus looked behind he saw that only a handful of maybe, 20 or 30 zombies followed. Marcus saw they were slowing. So were they.

"Marcus do you know where to go?" yelled Quinn still running hard.

Marcus hadn't been paying good attention to his surroundings and drew a blank. They were fucked whether they like it or not.

"I don't know!" Marcus yelled.

Quinn didn't respond and they kept running towards nothing. Marcus knew they had to do something or else they were going to die. Marcus looked ahead and saw a house that was just underneath a cliff that led to a forest. Could there be a chance? They had to try.

"Quinn, here," yelled Marcus.

He turned and Quinn followed. Marcus led with his shoulder and knocked down the old door. He saw the stairs and ran up them to look for a way to the top. He was greeted by a dark long hallway that stretched the length of the house. Marcus didn't have time to think about if walkers were in the rooms he ran past, but he didn't care. He past one, two, three rooms with no windows. Then he ran past the fourth and saw exactly what he wanted. A shattered window led to the cliff but the only problem was that the window was considerably lower than the cliff's edge. Marcus knew he had to try. Quinn fired shots and ran into the room closing and locking the door. There was a heavy desk in the room and Quinn pushed that in front of the door while Marcus worked to open the window. He pushed it open and it fell out of the house it was once attached to.

"Nice plan but how are we going to get up there?" asked Quinn out of breath and scared.

"Here," said Marcus as he handed the baby to Quinn.

Marcus took hold of the ledge and was able to lean out the window and grab onto the underside of the cliff. He jumped for it and lifted himself upwards onto the ledge making it to safety. Or so he thought. He got up quickly and scanned the area. There were no walkers here.

"Quinn come on. Hand him up," said Marcus as he slid to his stomach to grab for the baby.

Quinn handed him off and Marcus put the baby beside him. Quinn put his hand out and Marcus grabbed it and pulled his friend up and onto the cliff. They both sat there panting for a long time until Quinn broke the silence.

"Why the hell do we have a baby?"

"Long story," said Marcus panting.

"Well fuck houses from now on because I'm done with getting walkers jumping out at me,"

"Yeah me too, buddy,"

Marcus then turned his attention to the baby and was relieved that it was still breathing.

"What's its name?" asked Quinn recovering from the run.

"I don't know yet,"

"Man if you thought I was bad, just wait. Things are 'bout to get a lot harder around here."

"Alex is his name," said Marcus with confidence.

"Oh no you're not going down that road again are you?" asked Quinn. "It's just going to bring back bad memories for you and you'll go back to that dark place again,"

Marcus closed his eyes and tried not to think about it.

"Alex is his name and that's final, okay,"

"Alright but don't blame me when this kid doesn't turn out to be the person you want him to be,"

**END OF CHAPTER 1**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

Marcus sat on another cliff overlooking the small city of Coal Creek in Colorado. Quinn and Alex slept behind him peacefully on spare sleeping bags they found while looting a house. Marcus was told to keep watch and with only 3 hours of sleep, he found it hard to keep his eyes open. No zombies yet but they would be here. They also were like that. If only they weren't attracted to sound. Alex would be much easier to handle if they were deaf. A twig snapped behind him and Marcus wasn't surprised. He got up without urgency and drew his knife ready to kill one. When he turned around, he knew that he would need a gun.

"Drop your knife on the ground and put your hands in the air," said the man from the forest.

Marcus cursed and did what he was required.

"Good boy," The man said as he emerged from the forest, stepping into view. The man had a left eye missing and did nothing to hide that fact. In his belt was a giant sword. Almost looked like a samurai sword. The gun he was holding was what looked like a revolver and was shining in the little sun that was cresting over the horizon.

"Now if you don't want your friends here to die, show me all of your supplies,"

Of course, Quinn was fucking sleeping like a rock and Marcus was at a standstill. He just hoped the baby did not wake. As he walked over to his bag, Marcus felt the gun pointed at his head and worked as quickly as he could.

"Here," Marcus said as he threw the bag at the man's feet.

The man smiled and knelt down never taking his eyes off Marcus. Marcus was on his knees right next to Quinn. As the man searched, Marcus tried to nudge him awake so he could at least be some help, but he just slept where he was. Marcus really hoped he was dead because if he wasn't Marcus would make sure he was when he awoke. Marcus handed over the little food he and Quinn had left slowly, watching the man's every move. The man's outstretched hand was about to grab for the food when Marcus saw the butt of his gun coming towards him. Marcus leaned to the side and as he stood up upper cutted the man. He fell backwards and was about to pull the trigger on his gun but Marcus put his foot on the man's arm before he could do anything. A bullet trailed off over the cliff as the man fired when he fell. Marcus grimaced and drove his heel into the man's teeth. He was screaming now and blood was trailing down his face. Marcus grabbed the gun out of the man's hands and shot him in the kneecap. The man was screaming and trying to back away as fast as he could using his one good leg to push himself away from this...this monster. Marcus aimed and fired at the man's head ending his life. The gun Marcus held felt heavier. He pocketed the prize and took the belt and the sword of the dead man. Quinn stood up looking sleepy.

"What's up man? Oh,"

Marcus looked at Quinn with hatred.

"You dumb motherfucker!" he yelled.

Then the baby woke and started wailing.

"Dammit," said Marcus as he ran to the baby and tried to calm it with food.

"Wait why am I a dumb motherfucker? I didn't do anything!" Quinn was angry and confused at the same time. Why was he always criticized?

"Yeah Quinn, you're right you didn't do anything!" said Marcus as he turned to change a dirty diaper. The baby was getting louder and Marcus figured they would need to leave soon so he put his backpack on.

"Is this about that guy? How was I suppose to tell he was attacking us?"  
"Quinn I kicked you plenty of time. I figured you would get the goddamn idea, but no you just slept there putting all of us in danger!" Marcus was fuming. This baby wasn't getting any quieter.

"Look I would say I'm sorry but I can't control what happened. If I knew we were getting raided I would've woken up!"

Marcus swore, finished changing the baby, and stood up.

"Listen I-" Before Marcus could finish he saw the clicker before he could yell to Quinn. Marcus was sliding down the slope of the cliff feet first holding the baby tight to his chest. That only made things worse and Alex was screaming on the top of his lungs. However, not as loud as Quinn was on top of the cliff. Marcus landed on solid ground hurting his feet but he didn't care. He needed to get this baby out of here, now! Marcus found himself in the same neighborhood but he was farther away from where he and Quinn climbed onto the cliff. The walkers were probably a couple blocks down but the baby was loud and Marcus knew they wouldn't be safe for long. So he ran. Marcus ran and ran for years with this baby. It was difficult work to sustain yourself and an infant child. Marcus went a few days without food just to feed this child. Why? What drew Marcus to keeping this baby alive? He figured that it was his old desire for children, which never happened. However, it went much further than that. Almost as if, it was his job. But throughout all the close calls Marcus did, what he needed to do and they both survived. For 13 years, Marcus survived with the child and they had mostly been okay. Marcus went many days without food but he didn't mind. The only thing that concerned him was Alex's bloodlust for killing, or hunting as they called it. It disturbed Marcus how Alex, without a flicker of emotion, was able to kill a living walker. Of course, Marcus had gotten that way over many years, but Alex grew up in this time. Alex, luckily for Marcus, had black hair similar to Marcus. Alex's skin was a little lighter than Marcus's was and his nose was far smaller. Alex looked nothing like Marcus but Alex shrugged it off as a small problem in a sea of problems. Alex was constantly asking about his mother and Marcus kept feeding him a chain of lies. Marcus described his wife and Alex took the bait happily. Marcus didn't know when, or even if, he was going to tell Alex that he was not Marcus's son.

"Dad wake up!" yelled Alex.

Marcus grabbed his knife and sat up quickly, staring at a giant toxic container. Marcus winced in pain as he realized that he was getting older. Marcus was ashamed. How was he supposed to survive if he couldn't even sit up quickly?

"What, Alex?" said Marcus annoyed that the boy had woken him under the mindset of danger. They were in a power plant they had found off the coast of a beach. Marcus almost always was reminded of his hometown. He and Alex had been running for years and somehow they had run all the way to the southeastern edge of Texas.

"I found more food," Alex handed him a can of cranberries while he ate some kind of canned vegetable. Marcus took it.

"What have I told you about going out on your own? There could've been walkers; we didn't exactly clear the _whole _place out,"

"Dad I know my way around a knife and I can take down any walker,"

"Alright tough guy. What would you do if you turned the corner and saw a Bloater? Or even a couple Clickers?"

"Well if I found Clicker I would close the door," Alex made a puzzled face. "For the bloater I would...close the door and run like hell," It was meant to be a joke but Marcus was not smiling.

"What have I said about language?"

"Yeah it's English...so?"

"No the swearing smartass,"

"So it's okay for you to swear but not me,"

"Yes. And that's how it's going to stay,"

"Whatever," Alex said between mouthfuls of old vegetables.

Marcus placed his empty can of cranberries on the floor in front of him preparing for the announcement.

"Hey, we need to discuss something,"

"Is it about the letter?"

"Yeah it is. I think we should move in on it,"

Alex was still engrossed with his can of vegetables, using his fingers to scrape the sides clean. Alex put down the clean can.

"I think that's a good idea and a bad one,"

"Yeah that's what I was thinking too," Marcus said shaking his head.

"But it's also all we got. This note marks the third time we've heard of this place, so it's obviously huge. Bigger than the other one we were at,"

Marcus turned his head and closed his eyes trying to forget the images that had plagued his nightmare for the past couple years. Yet, Alex seemed to be content with what had happened at the camp. Of course, Marcus knew Alex didn't like what happened, but it almost didn't affect him.

"Yeah let's hope we don't have to go through that again," Alex said as they shared a moment of silence.

Marcus stood up.

"I'm tired of bouncing around place to place like this. So we're going to check this place out,"

"How are we going to get there? The truck is out of gas," Alex said gathering his things.

"We'll walk. If it's been around for as long as we've been hearing about it then it will be there when we get there,"

"Alright! Lead the way Old Style,"

Marcus hated that name. Alex had found an empty beer can and saw the label: Old Style. Alex had taking a liking to it while it brought up bad memories for Marcus. Yet Marcus let Alex call him that so that Alex could get some enjoyment out of it... Marcus walked outside into the scorching heat. Over the years Marcus had no idea where he was going but if he knew his destination would be Texas, he would've switched routes. The sun was rising giving Marcus the impression that it was between eight or 9 o'clock in the morning. They had lots of time to walk. Or at least get to the metro.

"Alright, stay close Alex,"

"Right-o," said Alex cheerfully

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Put your gas mask on," said Marcus through his gas mask. Alex slipped it on and took a deep breath through the filters. Marcus and Alex both slowly walked down into what Alex thought of as the Underground Railroad. Marcus had scolded him not to call it that because of the history or something like that but Alex didn't care. He liked the name and thought it fit perfectly. Marcus took out his flashlight and shone it through the main room of the subway. A train was flipped over and leaning over the edge of the platform. Marcus looked at Alex and motioned for him to be quiet. Marcus got a hand signal in return that he interpreted as no shit. They both moved at the speed of turtles down the stairs, searching for enemies. This place seemed to be empty so Marcus and Alex proceeded into the yellow haze of gas that filled the Metro. Marcus saw a flash of movement and took out his gun. Alex removed a knife and got into his stance. A runner came out of nowhere behind Alex and slammed into his back. Alex flew forward and hit the edge of his gas mask on the edge of a broken bench. Alex heard it crack and felt the suffocating gases enter his mask. He called for Marcus but didn't want to breathe. Marcus was still fighting with the runner, now going up head-to head with the runner. Alex found it weird that Marcus dropped his gun. Alex felt his lungs contract and his body wouldn't let him do it anymore and he took a deep breath of air. It tasted so foul that Alex found himself grabbing the edge of a rail and puking over it down by the railroad tracks. Marcus still didn't hear or see Alex so Alex decided to keep this to himself. Alex inspected the mask and it seemed to only have a small hairline crack. Marcus would never notice, but then again he would be dead in an hour so it wouldn't matter anyway. Marcus pushed the runner down and jumped on his head causing an excess of blood to be shot out in all directions. Marcus was standing over the body panting. His body hurt in many places but he still was able to run to Alex.

"You okay?" Marcus asked."

"Yeah that runner came out of nowhere though,"

Alex was taking labored breath trying to inhale little as possible.

"Let's keep moving,"

With that, Marcus and Alex jumped down to the crashed train and walked in the opposite direction down a dark tunnel. Marcus was amazed at how well he could see down here in the complete darkness with just a flashlight. He could see every crevice and corner which were somehow, not filled with walkers. What Marcus didn't see was Alex's panicked movement and attitude.

_I cannot die here! What the hell kind of legacy would that be?_ Alex thought silently. Alex was debating between telling Marcus or waiting until Marcus figured out the symptoms for himself. They both approached a tipped over gas tanker and were stuck in their tracks,

"Damn! We're going to have to climb this thing,"

Alex was too worried about himself to care about moving forward.

"Yeah whatever let's go," Alex said volunteering himself. Alex climbed onto the hole in the top, which was relatively close to the ground and grabbed the inside of the driver's side door. He felt cool leather and climbed on top of the door, looking down at Marcus.

"Help me up," Marcus said stepping onto the hole in the side. Alex grabbed Marcus's hand and pulled him up and over.

"Alright. Let's keep going. Not much longer now,"

"Dad, I have to tell you something,"

"Can you wait until we're out because we really need to be quiet," Marcus whispered.

"Yeah," said Alex disappointed. This other side of the tunnel was so thick with gas that he could barely make out Marcus's back ahead of him. Marcus kept walking and walking, hugging the wall. Alex was marking time and figured that it has been about 25 minutes since he inhaled the gas. It takes one hour to transform and 10 minutes to start showing symptoms. Marcus told him that the usual symptoms at least 10 minutes into the infection are headaches, fever, coughing, and random blackouts. There were many more but Alex, as far as he knew, was not experiencing any symptoms. He didn't know if that was good or bad. He counted it as bad and kept walking. Walking towards the end of a long tunnel and onto a promising tomorrow. At least for Marcus.

**END OF CHAPTER 2**


End file.
